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Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Applebee's at Senayan

Last Friday, my whole family were celebrating my dad's birthday and my brother suggested that we should go to Applebee's. At first, I was a bit reluctant because of my impression of this particular Applebee's Indonesian branch a couple years back is that the restaurant is pretty meh -- far from what I remember from the first time I had Applebee's in the U.S. in one of its restaurant in Lincoln, Nebraska. Then I decided to go along and so the whole family went to Applebee's to have our iftar and its following dinner. The place was super packed at the time because of an event, so the waitress suggests that we shall order soon. We put our appetizer and drinks order first.

Fifteen minutes after iftar time our order has yet to arrive so we continue to order our mains right away. Only then our takjil (food, often sweet, that is prepared for iftar) arrive consisting of a small glass of syrupy glutinous rice mix. Four of the five family members decided to take their Breakfasting Set Menu promotion for IDR 149.000 in which the package includes one choice of meal, one drink and a platter of two appetizers: Sriracha Shrimp and Wonton Tacos, but the prices listed below are for the a la carte pricing of each main dishes.

Sriracha Shrimp

The sriracha shrimp is basically deep fried shrimp coated with batter and then mixed with creamy sriracha chili-lime sauce. It was a nice appetizer as the shrimp is cooked well and the batter were cooked until golden brown although not necessarily crispy. The sriracha shrimp is served on a bed of cut up tortilla for a variety of texture.

Wonton Tacos

Crispy wonton/tortilla was used as a taco shell that consists of coleslaw, cilantro and chicken pieces in between the crunchy layer of fried wonton. The most apparent flavor is definitely from the coleslaw, but with a drizzle of lime and little hints of cilantro, there were added the freshness that cut through the 'slaw. The chicken itself were overshadowed by the rest of the vegetables.

Choose Your Sampler - Choice of Three (IDR 199.000)

We picked out the appetizer sampler which came one by one moment after the first plate came out. With this sampler, you can pick any three out of the available items on the appetizer menu. We chose the Double Crunch Bone-In Wings, Mozzarella Sticks, and the Sriracha Shrimp.

Double Crunch Bone-In Wings

This chicken menu is underwhelming due to the texture of the chicken being a bit too crumbly; what said to be a double fried chicken didn't turn out crispy and the added honey barbecue sauce was also a bit too sweet for my taste. Too bad they don't have their buffalo sauce available during that time -- the optional sauces for the chicken are: hot buffalo sauce, classic buffalo, sweet & spicy, and lastly the honey BBQ. The side of creamy ranch somewhat saved this dish but not by much, but I appreciate the smokiness of the barbecue sauce itself.

Sriracha Shrimp

Mozzarella Sticks

You literally cannot go wrong with this. Served piping hot, the cheese melts upon the first bite and every bite after. This breaded mozzarella cheese was cooked really well and the marinara sauce was a nice dipping that I even saved for the next meal.

Beef Back Ribs (IDR 499.000)

The beef back ribs menu consists of six rack of U.S. beef back ribs, grilled to order with barbecue seasonings and served with coleslaw, french fries, and corn on the cob. We picked out the Applebee's Honey BBQ Sauce for this and the sauce goes better when grilled with the beef in comparison to the chicken. There are other sauce options such as the Sweet & Spicy and Chipotle BBQ for the ribs itself. As for the sides, I really enjoyed the french fries! The outer part were crispy while the inside were soft, and there were enough seasoning on.

This is basically just one of the two stacks of ribs served to the table. As there's a Half Portion Beef Back Ribs menu available, this is approximately the portion for such. It was really a generous serving and we had this beef shared across the table for all of us.

Fiesta Lime Chicken (IDR 119.000)

This one is my personal order and it consists of grilled chicken on a bed of tortilla chips and topped with generous amount of melted Jack-cheddar cheese with ranch underneath it. The dish served with Mexican rice, pico-de-gallo and lastly a slice of lemon for added acidity. I really like the Mexican inspired dish and all of these components mixes really well. The chicken was cooked really well and the protein by itself were even good enough by its own. The rice was also delicious but upon the first look, I wasn't too interested because it reminded me so much of an Indonesian fried rice, but you can taste the Tex-Mex inspiration despite the look hehe.

Classic Burger (IDR 99.000)

Mushroom Swiss (IDR 119.000)

The Mushroom Swiss Burger is topped with portobello mushroom, button mushroom, button mushroom, melted Swiss cheese and smoked mayonnaise and served with a side of salad, coleslaw, and french fries.

Cowboy Burger (IDR 149.000)

This juicy burger is stacked with onion rings, white cheddar cheese, smoked beef bacon, and drizzled with honey BBQ sauce and served in the midst of brioche bun.

Miso Salmon (IDR 169.000)

The salmon is pan-seared, served alongside with cherry tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms and then drizzled with miso butter sauce. The protein is served with steamed white rice. I tried the salmon and it was cooked really nicely but the miso flavor is not strong enough for me.

I liked Applebee's this second time, especially the restaurant is recently renewed its concept. The decor was wayy nicer and the menu were more elaborate. The downfall is the service speed because everything just took so long at the time, but it is understandable because the restaurant was packed and everyone orders at the same time. In the end, it was a nice dinner and if you were about to try out Applebee's I think ordering their sets is some of the most valuable options here.

Also for the birthday treat, you'll get a set of sliders with a side of fries!